Pro-Web filter politician changes track after his site is blocked

US Republican congressional candidate censored

A US Republican congressional candidate became the victim of his own campaigning after Web filters blocked traffic to his site.

Jeffery Pollock, a conservative Christian who waged an unsuccessful campaign for the Third Congressional District seat in Oregon, had been a staunch supporter of filters.

A statement on his site previously read: "We should demand that all public schools install and configure Internet filters."

But an outraged Pollock pulled down the statement after it turned out software from Cyber Patrol had been banning surfers from visiting his campaign site. He has now decided that he opposes government intervention when it comes to blocking sites.

"I just went back to my website to re-read what I wrote nine months ago. That will be gone. I am incensed with what is going on here," said Pollock when he discovered the action.

Some surfers who enabled the blocking capabilities for "Full Nudity", "Partial Nudity" or "Sexual Acts/Texts" were unable to gain access to Pollock's and other candidates' sites. In all, a study by Netelection.org and free speech group Peacefire.org found at least four Republican, one Libertarian, and five Democrat sites blocked by Cyber Patrol.

There was no obscenity on Pollock's site, although it is believed references to issues such as abortion, rape and incest may have triggered the filters. ®

Related LinksA copy of the study, entitled Blind Ballots: Websites of US political candidates censored by Censorware can be found here.